Player Discussion Alex Galchenyuk: Time to loosen the restraints?

[The Great Weal]

Right. Which teams can get away with. Vegas in the 1st month played 4 different goalies and had two top-4 D-men (Theodore didn't start with the team and took time to play bigger minutes).

I think Price bounces back, but I also think that means that Montreal doesn't finish really low in the standings.

Vegas is probably the best shutdown team in the league this year, largely due to MAF but their defense has done an unbelievable job to shut it down as well.

 

[durojean]

Galchenyuk made some really important strides last year, IMO. He was far more aggressive and hard on pucks. The Habs under Therrien and Julien want to pressure the puck. That's not been part of his game as a centre or winger but finally I started to see the hustle that I think they need to see from him. Like it or not, the Habs want all their players to pressure, pressure, pressure. It's how the system works. If everyone doesn't do it, the system falls apart. So he started doing that. That's good.

The other thing I saw was he finally started learning how to use the middle of the ice as a winger. A lot of natural centres struggle when they move to the wing because they feel like they're stuck in a track. Galchenyuk is not like Pacioretty, Gallagher, Danault. These are North-South players. Galchenyuk is more like Drouin, an East-West guy. He needs to be able to move laterally and use the middle of the ice. That's where he's most dangerous. It's also what makes him a natural centre. But on the wing, I finally started seeing him step into the middle of the ice either with the puck, or to support the rush. This was a huge step and I think it will allow him to be more of a dynamic player, like the one we saw playing centre.

Now, why isn't he just playing centre? It's simple - his play in his own zone. Although he's hard on pucks in the offensive zone, he's not hard enough, not aggressive enough in the D zone. He needs to anticipate plays and breakdowns better and jump into the spots he needs to be to help start the rush. He was not doing enough in his own zone to break up plays and start the rush. He was waiting for passes. They want their centres to be puck hounds, and Galchenyuk is not that. As long as he plays that way, he won't be a centre for this team.

Are you talking about the pre-injury Galchenyuk or the post injury. Because the pressuring the puck thing only apply to the latter.

I feel the progression everyone sees in Galchenyuk last year is more him getting in his pre injury form and making adaptation to his winger position.

It was not his strongest place but I remember him.playing defence against the other teams best line night in and night out with Radulov and looking really good doing it. (More on visitor ice but still )

Remember he was top 10 in scoring after 35 games in pre injury form. And he was for longer than that if you count the year before. I think it was a stretch of 63 games.

But yeah... he's adapting to wing and made some progress at that position. It is a big chance that we don't need a number 1 centerman... at wing at the end of the year he was covering for his centerman in the d zone and was going center to get his points in the o zone... so his progression at wing could be him playing more like a centerman.

By the way, last year he was better than all our centerman on the face off but he was always used there has the last option.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Vegas is probably the best shutdown team in the league this year, largely due to MAF but their defense has done an unbelievable job to shut it down as well.

But their D didn't have a lot of "top-4" D-men (semi related, but I hate the top-4 D designation, because so many bad D-men that get carried sneak into that designation. Top-3 D is better, either you can play heavy minutes on the 1st pair or carry the 2nd pair) and the team was only above average in terms of preventing chances. They finished 8th in GA (4 less than Toronto).

I just don't think Montreal's lack of top-D is going to push Montreal to being a bottom-5 team again. It'll be injuries or Price sucking again.

 

[The Great Weal]

But their D didn't have a lot of "top-4" D-men (semi related, but I hate the top-4 D designation, because so many bad D-men that get carried sneak into that designation. Top-3 D is better, either you can play heavy minutes on the 1st pair or carry the 2nd pair) and the team was only above average in terms of preventing chances. They finished 8th in GA (4 less than Toronto).

I just don't think Montreal's lack of top-D is going to push Montreal to being a bottom-5 team again. It'll be injuries or Price sucking again.

Miller, Schmidt, Theodore are all better than anything we iced this year. I'd even argue that a few more played better too.

 

[Habs178]

Galchenyuk made some really important strides last year, IMO. He was far more aggressive and hard on pucks. The Habs under Therrien and Julien want to pressure the puck. That's not been part of his game as a centre or winger but finally I started to see the hustle that I think they need to see from him. Like it or not, the Habs want all their players to pressure, pressure, pressure. It's how the system works. If everyone doesn't do it, the system falls apart. So he started doing that. That's good.

The other thing I saw was he finally started learning how to use the middle of the ice as a winger. A lot of natural centres struggle when they move to the wing because they feel like they're stuck in a track. Galchenyuk is not like Pacioretty, Gallagher, Danault. These are North-South players. Galchenyuk is more like Drouin, an East-West guy. He needs to be able to move laterally and use the middle of the ice. That's where he's most dangerous. It's also what makes him a natural centre. But on the wing, I finally started seeing him step into the middle of the ice either with the puck, or to support the rush. This was a huge step and I think it will allow him to be more of a dynamic player, like the one we saw playing centre.

Now, why isn't he just playing centre? It's simple - his play in his own zone. Although he's hard on pucks in the offensive zone, he's not hard enough, not aggressive enough in the D zone. He needs to anticipate plays and breakdowns better and jump into the spots he needs to be to help start the rush. He was not doing enough in his own zone to break up plays and start the rush. He was waiting for passes. They want their centres to be puck hounds, and Galchenyuk is not that. As long as he plays that way, he won't be a centre for this team.

They want their centres to be puck hounds and yet....keep f***ing Drouin at center all year. That’s how f***ing backwards and Pejorative Slured this management team is.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Miller, Schmidt, Theodore are all better than anything we iced this year. I'd even argue that a few more played better too.

I like Miller, but he wasn't better than Petry this year. Schmidt was comparable. And we're also talking about the the beginning of the year when Weber was healthy.

Its logical to be bearish on the team, but lets not pretend that Montreal has no good pieces.

 

[The Great Weal]

I like Miller, but he wasn't better than Petry this year. Schmidt was comparable. And we're also talking about the the beginning of the year when Weber was healthy.

Its logical to be bearish on the team, but lets not pretend that Montreal has no good pieces.

Petry was incredibly underrated this season. He was excellent. The thing is that nobody else even came close to him.

 

[Habs100]

Petry was incredibly underrated this season. He was excellent. The thing is that nobody else even came close to him.

We need to build (really re-build) around young talent. Would be great if the rest of the league caught on to him, and we were able to trade him for a lottery pick or a top prospect. If that power play unit had been together from the beginning - Petry, Galchenyuk, Drouin, Gallagher, Pacioretty (replaced by Lehkonen) with Pacioretty in the high slot and Galchneyuk on the half wall (instead of the other way around, as they erroneously had it for half the year- Petry would have had 50 - 60 points.

If we're going with one dman on the 1st pp unit, Weber's going to have to show he can match Petry's mobility and puck movement.

2nd unit could be

Zadina Hudon Lehkonen
Weber Scherbak

(Zadina or Hudon Pacioretty's spot, Scherbak in Drouin's, Weber in Petry's, Lehkonen in Gallagher's, and Hudon or Zadina in Chucky's spot)

 

[Kraken Jokes]

Galchenyuk made some really important strides last year, IMO. He was far more aggressive and hard on pucks. The Habs under Therrien and Julien want to pressure the puck. That's not been part of his game as a centre or winger but finally I started to see the hustle that I think they need to see from him. Like it or not, the Habs want all their players to pressure, pressure, pressure. It's how the system works. If everyone doesn't do it, the system falls apart. So he started doing that. That's good.

The other thing I saw was he finally started learning how to use the middle of the ice as a winger. A lot of natural centres struggle when they move to the wing because they feel like they're stuck in a track. Galchenyuk is not like Pacioretty, Gallagher, Danault. These are North-South players. Galchenyuk is more like Drouin, an East-West guy. He needs to be able to move laterally and use the middle of the ice. That's where he's most dangerous. It's also what makes him a natural centre. But on the wing, I finally started seeing him step into the middle of the ice either with the puck, or to support the rush. This was a huge step and I think it will allow him to be more of a dynamic player, like the one we saw playing centre.

Now, why isn't he just playing centre? It's simple - his play in his own zone. Although he's hard on pucks in the offensive zone, he's not hard enough, not aggressive enough in the D zone. He needs to anticipate plays and breakdowns better and jump into the spots he needs to be to help start the rush. He was not doing enough in his own zone to break up plays and start the rush. He was waiting for passes. They want their centres to be puck hounds, and Galchenyuk is not that. As long as he plays that way, he won't be a centre for this team.

I voted for him at C, but that is a pretty good breakdown. I hope if they do keep him at LW, which is likely, that he continues to grow into that position offensively.